Melun

Melun
Melun map.png
Location (in red) within Paris inner and outer suburbs
Administration
Country France
Region ÃŽle-de-France
Department Seine-et-Marne
Arrondissement Melun
Canton Melun-Nord and Melun-Sud
Intercommunality Melun – Val de Seine
Mayor Gérard Millet (UMP)
(2008–2014)
Statistics
Elevation 37–102 m (121–335 ft)
(avg. 54 m/177 ft)
Land area1 8.04 km2 (3.10 sq mi)
Population2 38,691  (2006)
 - Density 4,812 /km2 (12,460 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code 77288/ 77000
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Melun is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the ÃŽle-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the south-eastern suburbs of Paris 25.7 miles (41.4 km) from the center. Melun is the capital of the department, as the seat of an arrondissement. Its inhabitants are called Melunais.

Contents

History

Meledunum began as a Gaulish town; Caesar noted Melun as "a town of the Senones, situated on an island in the Seine"; at the island there was a wooden bridge, which his men repaired.[1] Roman Meledunum was a mutatio where fresh horses were kept available for official couriers on the Roman road south-southeast of Paris, where it forded the Seine.[2]

The Normans sacked it in 845. The castle of Melun became a royal residence of the Capetian kings. Hugh Capet (See also: House of Capet) gave Melun to Bouchard, his favorite. In the reign of Hugh's son, Robert II of France, Eudes, the count of Champagne, bought the city, and the king took it back for the viscount in 999. Le Chatelain and his wife, who had sold the city, were hanged. Robert died there in July 1031.

Counts of Melun

Vicounts of Melun

The early viscounts of Melun were listed by seventeenth- and eighteenth century genealogists, notably Père Anselme. Based on closer reading of the original documents, Adolphe Duchalais constructed this list of viscounts in 1844:[3]

The title eventually became an honorary peerage. Such viscount include Honoré-Armand de Villars and Claude Louis Hector de Villars.

Transport

Melun Shield dating from the 15th century - "Melun (Seine-et-Marne): Azure on a semy-de-lys or a castle with three towers argent. Melun was one of the original strongholds of the royal domain. Motto: fida muris usque ad mures, recalling the siege of 1420 when inhabitants had to eat rats." http://www.heraldica.org/topics/france/frcitdep.htm

Melun is served by Melun station, which is an interchange station on Paris RER line D, on the Transilien R suburban rail line, and on several national rail lines.

Sights

The nearby chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte is considered a smaller predecessor of Palace of Versailles.

The officers' school of the French Gendarmerie is located in Melun.

People

Melun was the birthplace of:

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Melun is twinned with:

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Gallic War vii. 58, 60.
  2. ↑ Meledunum appears in the Antonine Itinerary almost halfway between Lutetia (Paris) and Condate (Rennes) ('Meledunum").
  3. ↑ Adolphe Duchalais, "Charte inedité de l’an 1138, relative à l’histoire des viscomtes de Melun" (Bibliothèque de l’école des chartes vol. 6 no. 6, 1845).

External links

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